James Beattie isn't surprised by Garry Monk's success with Swansea City.
Beattie, a long-time friend of Monk's from their days at Southampton, was in South Wales last week as an observer, watching how his old pal works as he seeks to return to management following a spell as Accrington Stanley boss.
He told WalesOnline: "He gives his family time, which is massively important, but he never stops working. There's always something with the preparation, from tactics and logistics to phone calls all the time from chairmen, players, but he's enjoying it.
"It's hard work, as you can imagine, but what a job he's doing. He knows the club inside out, which is massively important, he knows how the chairman works, the exact philosophy about the way the club works for a number of years.
"There is a mutual respect between him and the staff around him as well as the players because of the attention to detail he puts in. I know from my time if the players see you don't put the effort in, you can see straight through it, almost instantly.
"But the level of preparation, the time and effort he puts into it, it's no wonder he's doing so well and it's not coming to any surprise to people who know him.
"The level of detail in everything is huge - he's even had an input in the new training ground, where things go, and you can see that - if he doesn't get poached to go somewhere else - he will be the manager here for a long time to come."
